A PART-TIME soldier who works at Stan-low is to be honoured by the Queen for the vital role he played in the liberation of Iraq.

Keith 'Jesse' James, a Territorial Army (TA) warrant officer with the Corps of Royal Engineers, is to receive the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service after he led a team of oil refinery engineers in the war-torn country.

The award will be presented at a ceremony in Buckingham Palace later this year.

Keith's mission was to secure two giant oil refineries and ensure fuel production.

The 46-year-old operations shift manager, who lives in Hawarden, said: 'I was asked to put together a specialist team of petro-chemical engineers from the TA in November 2002.

'I built a team of subject experts from Shell, BP and Exxon Mobil, all TA soldiers with massive oil industry knowledge.

'In February last year we were called up and sent out to Northern Kuwait.

'We were assigned to the 7th US Marines and we moved into Iraq with them 24 hours ahead of other British forces.

'We went to Az Zubyar, which is where the Iraqi main line oil pumping station and gas separation plants are located. The objective was to secure the oil fields and oil infrastructure.'

Fears the retreating Iraqi soldiers would blow up the plant proved unfounded and Keith's team was able to secure the refinery and close it down.

His 30 years in the TA did not prepare him or his colleagues for the fighting.

He said: 'It's a horrible feeling actually shooting at other human beings and witnessing people dying. It's not something I want to repeat.'

Once the job in Az Zubyar was complete Keith and his team moved on to Basra.

Keith says he's thrilled his efforts are to be officially recognised but stresses that although the award is solely in his name, he sees it as recognition for the work of his team.

He is also grateful to Shell UK for its support. He said: 'They were brilliant throughout and even sent gas detection equipment out to us in Iraq. When I returned they were understanding of the stress we had been under and gave me plenty of rehabilitation time off.'